


Code Green

by Red_Tigress



Category: Incredible Hulk (2008), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Gen, Lab Bromance, Spoilers, Suspense, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-09
Updated: 2012-05-27
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Tigress/pseuds/Red_Tigress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things are finally settling down after Loki. But trouble starts for the team when they find out a secret SHIELD has been hiding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some of the things in here are plot points from both the Incredible Hulk and also the Avengers comic tie-in, Nick Fury' Big Week. Issue 5 or 6, I believe. Thanks for reading.

Tony sipped from his mug of coffee, staring out the newly-replaced windows of the tower down to the wreckage below. It had taken nearly a week for workers to de-armor the serpent things and then blow them up whale-style to remove them from rooftops. He had helped when he could, but once the adrenaline (and the shawarma) had worn off and he had gone to bed (on the ruined couches of his ruined penthouse), he had woken up and found himself unable to move from sheer muscle fatigue.

It had been like that for almost three days.

Pepper had helped him of course, but it was a trial.

Bruce had moved in, not wanting to leave Manhattan in the state it was in. He technically wasn’t allowed to leave unless it was to go to a SHIELD-operated facility, but Tony knew he occasionally snuck out to help with small cleanup jobs that were getting fewer and fewer as days went by and daily life returned to normal.

Clint, Natasha and Steve, while not “officially” having moved in, had rooms and spent all their free time here as well. Clint especially. He didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary around SHIELD, too crushed by what he had done under Loki’s influence.

Even Thor had apparently found a way to occasionally woo his father into letting him take the newly repaired “rainbow bridge” (Tony would believe it when he saw it) back to Earth for short visits both to New York and New Mexico.

So all in all, it wasn’t a bad setup.

Today, only Bruce was around, Thor being in Asgard and the SHIELD agents and Steve doing something for Fury. Even Pepper was out of town, working on her clean energy buildings in DC.

Tony had always had to make his own company for most of his life, so it was a bit of a jarring change when suddenly he found himself with a steady girlfriend and five new roommates. He wouldn’t say he didn’t like it, but he would also say he relished the silence when most of them weren’t here. They all got along fairly well, but anyone living in close proximity with any other can grate on your nerves occasionally.

Although Tony suspected it was the rest of them that would say _he_ grated on _their_ nerves.

Whatever, they were free to move out, even though he knew they wouldn’t.

So here he was, sipping his coffee, actually having a quiet moment of reflection, when Jarvis’ voice (sounding somewhat alarmed which in turn immediately alarmed Tony) interrupted him.

_“Code Green in the lab, Sir.”_

Tony didn’t think, he just dropped his mug and ran.

He rushed down the stairs, skidding to a halt in front of the glass doors. His eyes widened as he saw…the Other Guy inside, ambling around aimlessly. A computer array lay smashed at his feet, and Tony winced when he roared and threw another computer across the room.

“Open up, Jarvis,” Tony said.

_“Sir, I don’t advise-”_

“Do it!” he snarled. The door clicked open, and the Hulk’s head whipped around, huge teeth crunched together as he breathed through them loudly.

Tony raised his hands in what he hoped was a calming gesture.  Bruce had hulked out a few times since Loki, but it had always been warrented, and they’d always been around to sort of…guide him. Tony wasn’t sure what had brought this on, but he hoped Bruce would recognize him, despite him not being there when it had happened. “Woah, big fella, woah. Did Dum-e startle you?”

The robot clicked quietly from the corner, where it seemed to be hiding.

Hulk snarled and took a step forward. Tony didn’t flinch.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Just, you know, Bruce. Hey. How…are…you?”

Tony wouldn’t lie and say he had a lot of experience with this.

He sort of wished he had had the foresight to put his armor on, but…maybe that was the last thing Bruce needed right now, the sound of metal pounding over slate floors and robotic voices. So, he lowered his hands, straightened up, and gave a cocky grin.

He felt a rib (or three) snap as he was effortlessly swatted through the glass windows and into the hallway.

He sat up and gave a weak cough, which set his whole left side alight with fire. His eyes widened and he fought not to whimper in pain as the Hulk stepped slowly through crunched glass.

_“Sir, shall I call SHIELD?”_

The Hulk looked up, surprised, searching for the source of the voice.

“Belay that,” Tony said weakly.

The Hulk looked down at him again, before blinking in confusion. “That’s right, buddy,” Tony said, pulling himself up the rest of the way, and scooting forward towards the Hulk, wincing. “You know me. See? We’re all friends here.” He leaned forward, patting the Hulk’s big toe.

The Hulk actually looked amused, before reaching down and scooping Tony up. The hold would have been bone crushing even if he hadn’t already had broken ribs. Tony’s vision went white, and he forgot how to breathe.

It felt like hours, but in reality it was probably only about a minute before he found himself sitting haphazardly in a chair, blinking painfully up at the Hulk.

“Wait.” The beast grunted. He flopped down on the floor in front of Tony, making the ground shake, and just…stared at him.

Tony gave him a small smile, which the Hulk returned, before Tony found himself drifting off.

He woke up to Steve’s face inches away from his. He sucked in an alarmed breath, before remembering that was a terrible idea with broken ribs, and jammed his eyes shut in pain as his hands gripped the armrests of his chair.

“Tony! What happened? I’m taking you to the hospital!”

“No, no, ” Tony managed to grit out from behind clenched teeth. He opened one eye to see Clint and Natasha standing over an unconscious Bruce (not Hulk, thankfully), who was just beginning to peel himself off the floor. “Just ribs…can wait…”

Clint snorted, as Steve helped Tony to his feet. Now that he wasn’t slouched, it was a little easier (but still painful) to breathe. “Just…just you guys?” Tony looked around anxiously for the SHIELD Hulkbuster unit, and relaxed a little at seeing they were still alone.

“Jarvis called me,” Steve said. “He said just our services were required.” Steve gestured to Clint and Natasha.

Tony leaned on Steve a little, who held him steady. “Thanks, buddy,” he said.

_“Despite your slightly inappropriate behavior, I do have both your and Dr. Banner’s best interests at heart.”_

Clint raised his eyebrows, before he glanced from Bruce back to Tony. “‘Inappropriate behavior’?”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Barton. I simply walked into a room which…had the Hulk in it.”

“You _what?”_   Tony could practically see the lecture forming in Steve’s mouth.

“Don’t get your star-spangled panties in a twist, we worked it out.”

Bruce had returned to consciousness now, and was sitting up with Natasha’s help. “Tony…” he looked around, seeing the smashed computers and Tony holding his side leaning on Steve and his eyes widened.

“No, _I’m_ sorry,” Tony said as Bruce opened his mouth.

“…what?” Bruce looked confused.

“Sorry that I wasn’t-here-you know, for your initial…thing.”

“Tony that’s not-”

“No, really,” Tony interrupted, pushing himself off Steve. “It might not have been so bad if I was around.”

“I don’t _want_ you around,” Bruce growled. “I don’t want _any_ of you around. It’s too-”

“Dangerous?” Tony interrupted again, and Bruce shot him a glare. “Look, you may have broken some ribs, but it was nothing I wasn’t asking for. Besides, afterwards you put me to bed. So everyone wins.”

“Tony,” Bruce and Steve said at the same time, in an annoyingly nagging stereo.

“Seriously, just chill. We’ve been over this. You’re fine when you’re around us. You know us. We’re fine! You’re fine! Everyone. Is. Fine.”

“You need to get medical attention,” Steve pressed, putting his hand on his shoulder.

“In a minute,” Tony snapped, picking up Steve’s hand by one finger and depositing it off his person. “So. I’m sorry. Now,” Tony sank into the chair again, wincing, ignoring Steve’s disapproving look. “What made you Hulk out in the first place?”

Bruce glanced worriedly from Tony to Steve as Natasha helped him stand. “You’re…not going to like it either.”

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

One quinjet ride to the helicarrier later found all five of them in the med bay while Tony got patched up. Fury had shown up about a minute after they had arrived, inquiring as to what happened. Tony opened his mouth to say something along the lines of “buzz off”, but to his surprise, Steve was quicker.

“Stark was experimenting with his armor and blew himself up.”

Oh that was...well, certainly plausible. Tony shared a look with Bruce, and felt his respect for their “team leader” grow. Tony grinned widely at Fury.

Fury looked dubious. He glanced from Tony to Bruce who gave his own disarming smile. Tony didn’t doubt for a second he knew what actually happened.

“Try to be careful in the future,” Fury said, and turned around, his coat whipping around his ankles.

Before Tony could contemplate what just happened, the other man was gone.

It seemed Natasha hadn’t been lying about Fury trusting Bruce after all. That was certainly eye-patch opening.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Bruce mumbled.

Everyone in the room just shot him a silent look.

“Thanks, though,” he mumbled again.

Clint had alluded to Tony before about how some secret, shadowy organization was already breathing down Fury’s neck all the time. The same shadowy organization that had authorized a nuclear strike on Manhattan which Tony ended up riding to he certainly thought may be his demise. His fists clenched of their own accord. It seemed that for all of Fury’s tamperings, maybe he did have their bests interests at heart.

It gave Tony mixed feelings, knowing the same man who had tried to make weapons with the tesseract was actively trying to hide Banner from a lifetime of imprisonment. Or worse.

After his x-rays, the doctors sent Tony back home with a handful of orange bottles and his groupies. When they got to Stark Tower, Tony collapsed on a couch in the living room and pulled up his shirt inspecting his mottled black and tan torso. He noticed Banner out of the corner of his eye looking as well, and biting his lip guility. Tony hurriedly lowered his shirt.

“Well,” he said. “What did you want to show us?”

Bruce hesitated, looking at them all again. The others patiently waited, Clint chewing a muffin he had taken out of a box on the bar.

“A year ago, I met with a man who claimed he had an antidote for me. He was actually making copies of my blood.”

Clint and Natasha didn’t look surprised, but Steve and Tony’s eyebrows shot up.

Bruce continued. “In fact, when combined with ineffective prototypes of the super soldier serum,” he nodded to Steve, “it created the thing that broke Harlem with the Other Guy.”

“Blonsky was Ross’ fault though,” Tony pointed out. He had met Ross. Hated the guy. He did own a new bar out of the whole ordeal though. Well, owned. It was an office building now, maybe. He didn’t really keep track of these things.

“It was. But after everything was done, I had an associate go back to Dr. Sterns’ lab, the man who was copying my blood. Everything was gone. I discovered earlier, thanks to Jarvis’ hacks…both Sterns and the blood are being held by SHIELD in an undisclosed location.”

“That’s…” Steve looked shocked.

“You have no idea,” Banner smiled bitterly.

Natasha shifted in her seat at the bar, and Tony looked over, picking up on her unease immediately.

“What aren’t you telling us?” he growled at her.

Clint was on his feet in an instant, half-eaten muffin on the floor. “Back off,” he hissed, narrowing his eyes at Tony. “She’s not-”

“No Clint,” she interrupted him, sighing. “I’m done with secrets.” She looked Bruce in the eye. “I was the one who found Sterns. He was still alive after Blonsky found him. He didn’t look…” she glanced away, remembering. “…too good. But he was alive. I called in SHIELD before Ross could recover anything from his lab. I don’t know what they did with him afterwards.”

“You _what?”_ Bruce hissed, and Steve quickly stepped between them putting a hand on his chest. “Do you have any idea how _dangerous_ that is?”

“Lay off. She was just following orders,” Clint snarled back.

“Know a little something about _just following orders_ , do you?” Banner said lowly.

Clint flinched like he’d been slapped, face pale and drawn as Natasha’s mouth opened in shock.

“That’s _enough_ ,” Steve said quietly. “No one here is going to hold anyone else responsible for their past mistakes.”

Nobody moved for a minute. Finally, Bruce sighed, turning away. “I’m sorry, Clint. That wasn’t fair.”

Clint didn’t say anything, just sat back in the chair at the bar, staring at the floor. Natasha unconsciously moved between him and Banner, arms folded across her chest.

Tony stood up, wincing, and moving between all of them.

“I think what we have to do,” he said slowly, making sure he had all their attentions. “Is find out where that blood, and Sterns, are now.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

They had argued for a bit about whether it should be just Bruce, or Bruce and Natasha, or Steve, or Steve and Tony, or Natasha and Steve, or all of them that talked to Fury.

Of course, they all had pushed their way onto the quinjet, so it turned out they were all doing it together.

Natasha continued to stand between Bruce and Clint the whole flight to the helicarrier. Tony noticed Bruce sending a lot of guilty looks Clint’s way. The archer, in turn, didn’t pick up any of them because he was busying himself with inspecting the same arrow held inches away from his face. Finally, Tony couldn’t take it anymore.

“Barton, you’re going to go blind staring at something that close to your face for that long.”

Clint’s head snapped up. “Huh?”

Tony nodded at the arrow. “You’re gonna go blind. And then we’d have to call you Blind Eye. And it might not work out so well.” He shrugged. “And as esoteric as good eyesight and aim are, we sorta need it.”

Clint just gave him a puzzled expression before sighing and leaning back in his seat. Both Natasha and Bruce shot Tony grateful looks which he pretended not to notice.

They arrived at the helicarrier, Steve leading the group onto the deck as they hustled inside before any of them could collapse from light-headedness. People hastily stood aside, recognizing them instantly. Bruce, anger at SHIELD momentarily forgotten, kept his head down. Clint just stared straight ahead at the back of Steve’s head.

Tony grimaced. They were going to have to resolve this, soon.

They finally reached Fury’s office. Steve knocked politely before Tony pushed him out of the way and opened the door himself.

Fury didn’t seem surprised to see all of them standing there. “Stark, I trust you know I have actual work to do?”

“Where’s the blood?” Tony got right to the point, leaning down and putting his hands on Fury’s desk.

Fury’s eye glanced briefly at Natasha, but she just stood there with an unreadable expression on her face.

Fury looked back at Stark, disappointedly. “Been hacking top secret files again?”

“That blood is not a weapon, and it needs to be destroyed. You saw what it can do. It’s dangerous,” Bruce said moving to stand next to Tony and peer dangerously at him from over the rims of his glasses.

“And _I_ would like to reiterate top secret files are top secret for a reason,” Fury growled back at Stark. Tony’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t move. “Don’t think I won’t have your ass taken to court for security violations.”

“Go ahead. I can afford it.”

“Sir,” Steve interrupted, “We’d really like to know why Dr. Banner’s blood hasn’t been destroyed, as it is, at the very least, a bio hazard.”

“And because I doubt you want more Abominations running around,” Bruce smiled bitterly. “You have a hard enough time with one as it is.”

“If you’re referring to Blonsky, Dr. Banner, I assure you, he is in containment. Indefinitely.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I don’t see any Abominations running around. Do you?” Fury raised his eyebrow at Banner, who frowned, having expected a challenge and gotten the opposite. Fury stood up, walking around his desk. “Banner, I know this hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I trust you. And we value your expertise. Among other things. Besides, as long as a private and…upstanding citizen such as Mr. Stark is willing to put you up, I can’t complain. It’s out of my jurisdiction.” He shrugged.

“Quit stalling,” Tony said. “Where is it and what are you doing with it?”

“Nothing, for the moment.”

“I want it destroyed,” Bruce said again. “Face it, your super soldier side projects are never going to work, just like mine didn’t, like Ross’ didn’t, and like every failed attempt since the original.”

Steve shifted a little behind them.

“This is insanity, Nick,” Tony continued. “You’re playing with fire. You have been since the Tesseract, and who knows what else.”

“Why do you think we have to play with fire, Stark? Do you think the six of you are going to be prepared to face every unknown threat against our world? That a metal Frisbee and some lasers could take down a biochemical threat? Or an _army_ of biochemical threats? Are you _really_ that naive?” Fury was up in Tony’s face now, but the smaller man didn’t back down. “It’s _my_ job to make sure we are prepared for every conceivable attack including ones we can’t think of.”

Fury sighed before moving back around his desk and sinking into his chair, looking suddenly like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “I like you guys. I really do. I like having you as our first response, but you can’t be our _only_ response. I’m not trying to be the bad guy, here.”

“I don’t think you’re the good guy, either.” Tony said quietly.

Fury regarded him thoughtfully. “Good and bad evaporates in war.”

“We’re not _at_ war!” Tony hissed.

“Mr. Stark, we are _always_ at war. And I’m sorry I grossly misjudged you if you’re too blind to see it!”

Tony was ready to take a swing before he felt Steve’s hand gently on his shoulder. He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath as the other man’s voice calmly spoke.

“Director Fury, you can have some of my blood to work with if you destroy Dr. Banner’s.”

Fury leaned back in his chair, eye traveling over the group. “I suppose we can work with that.”

There was a collective sigh of relief as some of the tension eased out of the room. Steve removed his hand from Tony’s shoulder, who straightened his jacket silently, glaring at Fury.

“Thank you,” Bruce said. “But there’s one other thing we need to talk about. Where is Dr. Sterns?”

Fury stared up at him from his seat for a moment before his eye lowered.

“Gone.”

There were several incredulous _whats_ from around the room.

“You let him leave?” Bruce questioned, eager to know why he hadn’t heard from “Mr. Blue” if that was the case.

“He _escaped,_ ” Fury clarified.

No one said anything for a moment, before Natasha took a step forward. “How?”

“He overpowered the electrical and security systems of an entire SHIELD base from within his cell.”

“That’s not so hard,” Tony snorted.

“With his mind.”

Tony blinked. “Hmm, yeah, that’s decidedly harder.”

“What do you mean, ‘with his mind’?” Bruce asked. “The man is very smart, but I didn’t think government security systems were his specialty.”

“They’re not.  When I found him, his head had,” Natasha paused, looking Banner in the eye, “swelled to an abnormal size. We eventually determined he had got some of your blood in him. We think it enhanced his brain functions.”

“And no one thought to tell me this?!” Bruce yelled.  Everyone except Tony and Fury flinched.

“Do you know where he is now?” Tony asked.

“Somewhere in Nevada. I’ve already sent a task force that’s been trying to track him for two weeks.”

“What is the extent of his abilities?” Clint asked.

“Agent Barton, I don’t remember assigning the Avengers to deal with this.”

“It’s too late for that now, Director,” Steve said. “If this man has Bruce’s blood in him, it can’t wait, and a task force isn’t going to be enough.”

Fury sighed, looking around at each of their determined faces. “Suit up. I’ll meet you at the quinjet with the files in an hour. Then you’re going to Nevada.” They nodded, before turning around and leaving. Bruce was last, but he paused in the doorway.

“I have to hand it to you Nick. You sure do know how to turn around a situation pretty quickly in your favor.”

Fury glared at him, his face betraying nothing.

“I want that blood destroyed. Immediately. I’ll find out if you don’t.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Fury assured him.

Bruce gave him a doubtful look, before leaving the office and closing the door behind him.

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

There was only so long they could ride silently in the quinjet across the country, especially with Tony aboard. But surprisingly, it was Bruce who broke the silence first.

“Thank you guys. It means a lot to me, to have people at my back.”

“I don’t know why you think we wouldn’t!” Tony said clapping a metal plated hand on his shoulder.

Bruce cleared his throat. Steve, Natasha and Clint sat on one side of the back of the jet while he and Tony sat on the other, the two pilots down below and not paying them the slightest bit of attention. Tony smiled widely at the other three. It was clear they still didn’t trust Bruce yet. Not completely. Not totally, 100% blindly like he did.

And Tony could count on one hand the people he only trusted 15% or more, and one of those people was an artificial intelligence.

“Clint. I know a bit about what you’re going through. I’m sorry I said what I did. You know my…temper sometimes gets away from me.”

Clint snorted.

“You didn’t deserve that. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you.”

Clint stilled slightly, before he looked up, meeting Banner’s eyes for the first time in hours. “Thanks, Doc.” He murmured.

Bruce gave him a bitter smile, before leaning back into his seat.

“Don’t we feel better? When we talk about things? Group hug!” Tony said standing up.

“I’m not hugging you when you’re wearing metal plating,” Clint growled.

“But you _would_ hug me.”

“I didn’t say that,” Clint snorted.

“You _implied_ it by saying you wouldn’t hug me while wearing the suit, which _implies_ you’d hug me out of it.”

“I think you have a girlfriend for that,” Natasha said, making Steve blush a little.

“Natasha!” Tony scolded sitting back down. “That’s not something we say about our coworkers.”

“I don’t work for you anymore,” Natasha said smiling and leaning back into her seat. “And it’s quite liberating. Hardest job of my life.”

“And that’s coming from someone I saw fight off fifty-three members of the Russian mafia after having been undercover with them four months,” Clint added.

“Fifty…fifty- _three_? Well, you must suck at undercover duty then.”

Natasha flipped him the bird.


	3. Chapter 3

They touched down outside of Reno, SHIELD holed up in some shabby office park on the edge of town. None of the locals saw the Avengers get there as they filed into the building, immediately shown to the labs where they were already running a Gamma trace.

Bruce took one look at it before almost pushing aside the scientist at the main computer and instantly recalibrating, reorganizing, and re _doing_ everything. Tony walked around the lab as well but was smart enough not to touch anything as the other three basically sat down and waited. It didn’t take too long. Since the Tesseract, Bruce had given SHIELD a lot of helpful pointers about how to trace radiation, and they had done most of the work already.

“There,” Bruce finally said, pointing to a region about an hour west of them.

“But, there’s hardly any traces there,” the SHIELD scientist spoke meekly as he looked where Bruce was pointing.

He looked at him, as if just remembering the other man was there. “I had to calibrate the machine differently to pick up on it. It’s not the usual stuff.”

“How can you be sure?” Tony asked, peering at the screen.

Bruce grimaced. “Sterns really likes to experiment, change variables, make his own thing. It’s him. And we need to get there to stop whatever he’s making.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Steve said, getting to his feet.

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

When they got to the building Bruce had pinpointed on the map, they landed the quinjet about a quarter mile out.

“I’m going alone,” Bruce told them.

“You’re not going alone,” Steve said.

“I know this man,” Bruce argued.

“You _knew_ this man.” Natasha insisted. “He was unstable before. He’s maniacal now.”

“You don’t know that,” Bruce said.

“We’re not taking chances. Widow and Hawkeye, you’re going in first, find some spots, and stay hidden.” Natasha nodded as Clint took out his bow, snapping it into position. “Bruce, I’m going in with you. Nice and easy. Stark, you’re going to stay outside, be backup if we need it.”

“What? C’mon, I’ve been wearing this thing for the past three hours because I was gonna blast some shit, you can’t expect me to wait outside!”

“I can, and you will. You still have broken ribs, and I need you as the big gun if things get hairy,” Steve said, trying to appeal to Stark’s ego. It didn’t quite work.

“I thought _he_ was the big gun,” Tony pointed out, gesturing at Bruce.

“I need the big gun with the brain attached,” Steve smiled.

Tony gave a dramatic sigh and pretended not to be pacified. “Fine. But the second things get hairy, I’m goin’ in.”

Steve moved over to the back of the quinjet, opening the bay door and smiling as Clint and Natasha immediately jogged out. “Please do.”

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

It didn’t take too long for Clint and Natasha to find an entrance that wasn’t being guarded. It made Natasha uneasy, how quickly Sterns seemed to have gathered followers. And they didn’t look like the science-y types, either. Luckily, there were only about three or four walking around the perimeter, and they had taken all of them out just to be on the safe side.

Clint picked the lock of the door, and they entered a small room isolated from the rest of the warehouse. Natasha could hear the low hum of machinery, the occasional commanding shout from far away. They opened the door slightly, and on seeing no guards, left the room.

The warehouse itself was stacked full of crates and metal equipment and not in any sort of pattern. It was like a maze that was impossible to see more than 30 feet in any direction. Clint touched her on the shoulder, pointing to a stack of crates with his bow and she nodded. He began climbing up to find a vantage point.

Natasha for her part sank back into the shadows.

She was only forced to duck for cover a few times, as the occasional scientist or guard walked by, but it was obvious they weren’t really looking for anything.

“I’m in position,” Clint said quietly over the comms. “I’ve got eyes on Sterns. You were right, Nat, he doesn’t look good.”

Natasha had squeezed in between the outer wall of the building and what seemed to be piles six feet high of scrap metal. She could now see Sterns through the spaces of the metal, chuckling quietly to himself as he typed away happily on a computer in front of him. Two men standing behind him looked at the computer with confusion.

His head had somehow gotten larger, and it made Natasha a little nauseous.

“Stay put, we’re coming in,” Steve’s voice said over the comms.

About a minute after he said it, Sterns’ head popped up, and he grinned widely. “I believe we have visitors!” He shouted to the warehouse. Natasha froze. “Go check on them,” he said to the men behind him, who started running towards the main entrance.

“Cap, you’ve got four incoming,” Clint said.

“Armed?”

“…not that I can see.” Natasha trusted Clint to see everything. It was strange Sterns was sending unarmed henchmen against intruders. But the guy may be legitimately crazy by now.

Natasha didn’t flinch when she heard the sound of metal hitting bodies, followed shortly afterwards by first Steve followed by Bruce into the main area.

Sterns looked delighted.

“Mr. Green!” He shouted. “Long time no see!” Bruce’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of Sterns in front of him.

“What are you doing, Sam?” Bruce said quietly. “What is all this?”

“The future!” Sterns said excitedly. Natasha saw Steve tense up, but for the moment he was keeping his mouth shut and letting Bruce do the talking. “Our last encounter left me changed, Dr. Banner, I will say that. But for the better.” He laughed gleefully. “I can see the future, and I know what has to be done.”

Bruce looked around at the multitudes of computer arrays, hoses, antennae, and other various lab equipment Natasha couldn’t identify. “Stop this, Sterns. You’ll only hurt people. We can help you.”

“Bruce! You already have helped me! I’m smarter than ever. Your blood did that! What kind of world would it be if you didn’t share your gift, like you have with me?”

“I’ve heard that before,” Tony mumbled bitterly over the comms.

“Gamma radiation doesn’t help anybody,” Bruce growled. “It kills people.”

“It didn’t kill you,” Sterns said.

“Not physically.”

Natasha winced.

“Dr. Sterns,” Steve interrupted quietly. “We’d like to help you. We can get you help.”

“You mean help me by locking me up in a cell underground again!” Sterns sneered. “I don’t want your kind of help.” He moved closer to a computer array.

Clint cursed over the comms. “He moved out of my line of sight.”

“Be careful Hawkeye, he may know we’re here,” Natasha advised.

“I’m moving, don’t let him touch that computer,” Clint said. Natasha caught a shadow out of the corner of her eye high above before it disappeared again.

“No one’s going to lock you in a cell,” Steve lied.

“We could use you,” Bruce stepped forward again, hands spread wide. “SHIELD would be happy to have a scientist of your caliber on the team.”

“Stop lying, Banner. I know exactly why they want me. And why they want you too.” The laughter was gone, and it was a sneers and spitting. It set Natasha on edge and she began to move to the other end of the scrap pile, wanting to be able to have a quick exit from her hiding space.

Bruce shook his head. “It’s not like that.”

“You’re pretending if you think it’s like anything else.”

“I have the shot,” Clint spoke.

“Take it,” Steve murmured.

If Natasha didn’t know what to look and listen for, she wouldn’t have known the arrow was there. She was about to give a sigh of relief when she realized the arrow wasn’t sticking out of Sterns’ shoulder, he was holding it in his hands.

Sterns looked at it. “Value me for my science, do you?”

Steve was moving, running to physically put Sterns down, who was laughing now. Steve swung his shield at the smaller man’s torso, who dodged effortlessly. Captain America in turn kicked out but it was once again dodged with an insight Natasha had only ever seen in elite field agents.

“You didn’t say he was combat trained!” she growled over the comms, moving out from behind the scrap pile.

“He’s…he’s not!” Bruce sounded shocked.

“I’m coming in,” Tony growled.

“Wait-” Natasha was about to tell him not to when Sterns dodged another shield swing, reaching up and grabbing Steve’s exposed chin with his hand.

“Clint!” Natasha shouted.

Steve gave a scream and fell to his knees.

“I don’t have the shot, he moved out of my line of sight again as soon as I made the first one! He knows where I am!”

Natasha cursed in Russian, before running past Bruce and launching herself feet first at Sterns. He let go of Steve right when her foot was about to connect with his massive head. He grabbed her ankle and using her own momentum against her, swung her around and let go of her right into Bruce.

They both toppled over with pained grunts. Natasha lay there stunned for a moment before she realized Bruce’s body was a lot more solid than normal human flesh. She quickly rolled off the growing, growling Hulk right as part of the roof dropped in and Iron Man landed in front Sterns, arms up and shoulder missiles armed.

But Clint had already let an arrow fly before Iron Man landed, and instead of catching it Sterns just smiled and ducked.

The explosive arrow caught Iron Man in the chest, blasting him backwards and also setting off the exposed arsenal on his shoulders. Tony gave a cry of pain before a multitude of explosions blew him the rest of the way through the wall.

“Shit, Stark!”

“Stay where you are!” Natasha ordered the panicked Clint as the Hulk roared behind her. She followed the smoke trail to where Iron Man lay on a pile of bricks, unmoving, entire upper half of his armor scorched black. As she kneeled down next to him, the faceplate popped up of its own accord, meaning at least Jarvis was still online. But Tony’s eyes were jammed shut as he tried to take suck in air loudly and painfully. “He’s conscious, but breathing’s labored. What’s the situation in there?”

“Cap’s not moving, and Hulk’s not landing any punches,” Clint said angrily. She heard a roar of frustration behind her.

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

Clint scrambled down the crates, eyes on Steve. He was about to be Hulk trampled, and super soldier or not, that couldn’t be pleasant.

He tried not to think about how he had just blown up Iron Man.

He jumped the last ten feet to the ground, landing in a crouch and pushing himself off to sprint to Steve’s side. He ducked a computer lobbed his way, and grabbed Steve’s arm to start to pull him to safety.

Holy shit, he was heavy.

He spared a glance at the Hulk who still wasn’t landing any punches, as Sterns just danced around him, smiling. “Oh, Bruce…if only you could keep your brain attached,” he shouted wistfully. The Hulk roared, and Sterns dodged another piece of equipment.

Clint grimaced, pulling Steve the rest of the way behind a tower of boxes. He dropped his arm and kneeled next to his face, pulling his cowl off. Steve’s head twitched harshly before his eyes snapped open. Clint let out a surprised “Woah!” before leaning backwards having narrowly dodged Steve’s fist. Steve tried again, but Clint dropped his bow, slid the quiver off his back, and swung the blunt end right into Steve’s face. Steve stumbled to his knees and moaned but didn’t get up.

It was only then he realized Natasha had been shouting his name.

“Clint! What’s going on?”

“Uh…I think I just had to administer my own cognitive recalibration.” Steve was slowly getting to his feet, looking dazed and confused and leaning heavily on the stack of crates. “Cap. You with us?”

“What?”

“Good enough,” Clint mumbled. “News flash, Sterns may have some sort of mind control ability.”

Then it hit him, who Sterns was currently fighting.

“Shit, shit, SHIT!” He grabbed his bow and quiver, not waiting for Steve to follow, turning the corner just in time to see Sterns dodge the Hulk’s massive fists and press both hands around his face.

 Clint’s heart leapt into his throat, eyes wide as he watched.

Sterns smiled as the Hulk look confused. But then for the first time, Clint saw Sterns get a surprised look on his face as the Hulk’s own features melted into fury and he swung a fist at Sterns who didn’t dodge.

The smaller man went flying into a stack of crates on the other side of the warehouse.

Clint let out the breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding. “Whatever he did to Cap doesn’t work on Hulk,” he said hurriedly into the comms. He heard Natasha whisper the Russian equivalent of _‘thank god’_.

Hulk took a step to follow, before his eyes rolled back in his head and he crashed to the floor. Clint cursed when he noticed the dart sticking out of his arm. “Hulk down,” he shouted, running to the stack of boxes he had seen Sterns crash into. He angrily pulled a piece of debris up, only to find an empty space where there should have been a body. He whipped his head around, and saw the door he and Natasha had originally come in wide open.

He sprinted outside just in time to see the tail lights and dust from a car driving away. He raised his bow, but cursed to see the car was already out of range.


	4. Chapter 4

Clint had memorized the plate number of the escaping car, but it didn’t matter. Local police found the car half an hour later, abandoned.

Natasha had returned to the quinjet to call for help, and they’d been evacuated back to the SHIELD facility outside Reno which had a simple medical staff and lab on site.

Bruce was unconscious.

Tony would fade in and out, struggling to breathe the whole time, even after Clint and Natasha had managed to remove his armor manually in the quinjet. But he hadn’t punctured a lung, so that was good news.

Steve was conscious, but just seemed woozy, not really able to focus on anything longer than a minute, or answer questions with more than a “what?” or “huh?”

Once back at SHIELD, the scientists there had determined Sterns had shot Bruce up with the same concoction he used in Harlem that basically repressed his abilities to transform for a short period of time. He would wake up soon.

Tony lay on a bed, doing his best not to moan in pain every five minutes, and holding an oxygen mask over his nose and face. He refused to have it wrapped around his head, and didn’t want doctors coming too close to him. But he still passed out now and again, so when he dropped it, Natasha moved over and held it back in place for a minute until he came to again. The first few times she did this, he had looked very scared, probably expecting her to kill him, but then he just ended up giving her tired and grateful looks.

Steve finally began getting his attention span back and answering questions after they had been there an hour. Clint didn’t want to press him. It already seemed like the mind control, if that was indeed what it was, was different than Loki’s had been. Clint mentally grimaced. Of course he didn’t want Cap to go through the same thing he had, but…he didn’t want to feel alone, either.

And he hated himself for feeling that way.

“What do you remember?” he asked Steve, as soon as Steve seemed aware of his surroundings.

Steve groaned. “I was fighting Sterns. Then…pain. A lot of pain. In my head. I don’t remember anything after that, except…flashes of coming back here, I guess.” He looked at Stark, who looked back at him tiredly from under the oxygen mask, and then Bruce who was just beginning to rouse. “What happened?”

Clint sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. At least Steve hadn’t…well, had his mind pulled from him, like Clint had. At least he didn’t remember the feeling. At least he was still him.

Natasha, sensing the archer’s unease, spoke up. “Sterns happened. We couldn’t touch him. He was trained in advanced combat-”

“No,” Bruce interrupted. “It wasn’t that. He still doesn’t know any combat. He never returned any of Steve’s punches, just dodged them.”

Tony pulled the mask down from his face. “So, maybe he likes to taunt us,” he wheezed.

“I think,” Bruce said, sitting up and pulling the scratchy hospital blanket tighter around his naked torso. “I think somehow his ability to analyze and predict situations have been enhanced. Remember, Clint, how he _caught_ your arrow the first time, but the second time he didn’t touch it, instead letting it hit Tony.”

“Sorry,” Clint looked up at Tony, who waved a hand back at him and rolled his eyes.

“Somehow he knew you wouldn’t fire a regular one a second time.” Clint looked doubtful, but let him continue. “It would appear to anyone as precognition. But I don’t think it’s that.”

“So, he didn’t break out of SHIELD jail before with his mind, he just…predicted a pattern and used it to escape?” Tony asked.

“Exactly.”

“What about what he did to Steve?” Natasha asked.

“That’s harder to answer. But with…my blood, it’s possible he could have gained some sort of telepathy, but it’s still new to him.”

“That explains why the lackies we collected didn’t remember anything either,” Clint said.

“Yeah. It also may be range and time limited. They were around him longer, he had greater control.”

“And Cap only tried to punch Clint once,” Natasha supplied.

“What?” Steve looked alarmed.

Any answer he could get was interrupted by the noise of Tony’s mobile phone.

Tony squinted at his phone, not recognizing the number. Curious, he lowered his mask and held the phone in front of his face so everyone could hear.

“Hello?”

_“Hello. You have a collect call from: ‘-or Odinson and I demand-‘ Would you like to accept this call?”_

It took all of Tony’s willpower not to burst out laughing. “Sure,” he told the mechanical voice on the other end.

_“Hello? Hello? Stark are you there? This woman has informed me I could reach you but-”_

“Relax, big guy, you did it. How are you using a phone?”

_“The bifrost has been repaired, but I know not where I have landed. I was shown how to use this…telay pho…by a helpful man who informs me he is a French Canadian.”_

Clint snorted loudly.  They knew Tony had given him a card to call him with in case he ever came back to Earth and got lost but no one had expected to actually take him up on it.

“Wait, you’re in Canada?” Natasha asked.

_“Natasha Romanov, it is good to hear your voice. The man who is helping me is nodding, so I assume I am in…Canada.”_

“That’s a little off the map for us, but the helicarrier should be near New York. Can you fly there?”

_“I…what? No of course not. That is an idiotic suggestion for I do not know the way.”_

“Use a map.”

_“It…does not exactly work that way.”_

“You can’t read maps, can you.”

_“I find your slight insulting and you will pay dearly for it!”_

“I’m going to pay dearly for this call. Look big guy, stay where you are, and we’ll have SHIELD pick you up. Put the other guy on the phone.”

There were noises as the receiver was handed over and rapid French burst from the line. Tony answered back in French, smiling, before hanging up. He gave a small cough and moaned, replacing the oxygen mask over his mouth. He glanced over to everyone else, who were all staring aghast at him.

“What? I speak French. Why do you think I wouldn’t?” he said from under the mask.

Tony emailed the information about where to pick up Thor to Fury, making sure that when the email arrived it would take over Fury’s personal screens on the helicarrier. He smiled to himself. They decided the best course of action was to head back to the floating fortress and expand their search. Sterns would be long gone by now, so the Nevada-only readings were useless.

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

When they got back three hours later, Tony started to try and pick up his disassembled armor from the floor of the quinjet, only to drop it all a moment later, gasping in pain. Steve had called him an idiot and moved him aside to let a few SHIELD agents in and put the armor on a cart, and wheel it back to the storage bay. Thor had come with them, eager to see his friends.

“How was Canada?” Clint asked coolly.

“I suppose it was alright. The citizens were quite happy to see me go, I must confess. I am most eager to return to New Mexico.”

“Uh…” Steve winced guiltily. “That may have to wait. We’ve sort of…stumbled into a situation.”

“A situation that kicked all our asses,” Tony wheezed tiredly.

Thor’s face turned serious in an instant, eyeing Tony’s pained face and the others’ sheepish looks. “My friends, whose wrath have you brought down upon you now?”

“We better get to the lab,” Bruce interrupted, before Tony could make some sarcastic comment back.

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

The lab had been repaired and restocked decently after the attack and the Hulk rampaged through it. While not having all of the equipment it had before, it still was top of the line. After Stark’s own, of course. While Tony and Bruce got to work on trying to figure out Sterns’ next move, the other four Avengers gathered in adjacent room so as not to disturb them.

In actuality, Stark had pushed them all out of the lab muttering something about useless cerebral functions.

Steve was all too happy to leave. He felt like he didn’t contribute enough to conversations as it was, and he still had a headache. Barton kept shooting him these weird looks, too. Steve couldn’t tell if they were, pity, anger, or maybe some sort of expectancy waiting for him to go ballistic at any moment.

“Clint. Stop it. I’m fine. Really.”

Barton blinked before looking away.

“Thanks, though.”

Barton huffed.

Natasha explained to Thor what was going, and about their losing battle with Sterns.

“Can you not attack from a distance?” Thor asked.

“It’s not so simple as that. He’s good at predicting things. So good, it’s like he reads our minds. He’s never been trained in combat, but he dodged every move. He also has some telepathic abilities. They don’t seem too strong though.”

“But from what you’ve told me, that could change over time.” Thor leaned forward, resting his chin in his hand and rubbing his beard. And suddenly, Steve was thankful to have another military strategist in the room. As…archaic, as Thor’s fighting techniques seemed to be, he’d still seen more battle in his impossibly long life than all of them put together. “Perplexing indeed. Perhaps physically attacking him is the wrong approach.”

“Should we offer him a picnic basket and put flowers in his hair instead?” Clint asked sarcastically.

Thor probably didn’t know what a picnic basket was, but he knew Clint’s tone. His eyes traveled to the archer once, briefly, before traveling back to Steve. “I would suggest discovering the nature of his abilities until we can use his weaknesses against him.”

“He’s cocky,” Cling supplied.

“He wants revenge on Banner,” Natasha added.

“What is his long-term goal, though?”  Steve rubbed his hand against his forehead, trying to think about the other things he had seen in the lab.

“Mass production.”

They all turned to see Banner leaning in the door frame, hands crossed over his chest. “He wants to make the world like him. Those things in his warehouse? They were meant to project radiation. I didn’t realize it at the time because I was a little distracted, but, I watched the playbacks from Tony’s suit. There are a few traces of the same signature, but we’re pretty sure we know which one is Sterns. The only thing he’s missing is a catalyst. And he needs a big source.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “Your blood.”

Bruce nodded. “Which I’m positive Fury has still not destroyed.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “We’ll just have to destroy it when we get there, then.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is taking so long, I'm packing for a move. Thanks for reading!

It didn’t take long for Tony to hack into SHIELD’s systems again to find the location of the blood. He knew SHIELD would be able to trace him again though, so he ran two simultaneous programs. One to actually discover the location of the blood, the other to serve as a distraction.

Fury was NOT happy when AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” began to play loudly over the Helicarrier’s PA system and videos of Thor took up half the screens on the bridge.

“Do you think this is a _joke_ , Stark?!” Fury stood staring down at the smaller man who held his ground defiantly as Bruce continued to work behind him, effectively ignoring the conversation. Steve and Thor stood off to the side, pretending to look disappointed in Stark while Natasha and Clint cleaned various weapons on the other side of the room.

“I walked past the bridge on my way down here. Your henchmen looked half-dead, they could really use some livening up-”

“I am _trying_ to run a command here, something that is growing increasingly impossible with you aboard. Let me reiterate that you are a _millimeter_ from getting kicked off this ship _personally_ by my shiny black boot.”

“You know, Loki threw me out a window and I survived without anyone’s help, so I’d welcome-”

“Stop.” Fury spoke very quietly. “If you’re bored, go somewhere else. I’m not here to entertain you, and I think the rest of them can get along quite well without you.”

Steve saw the flicker of hurt and uncertainty in Tony’s eyes, just for a split second before the walls came back up. Steve was beginning to regret using Tony as the patsy, but he quickly spoke up before Fury actually _could_ kick the other man off the ship. “Uh, Sir, Mr. Stark’s…jokes aside, he _is_ helping Dr. Banner trace Sterns.”

Steve could almost see Fury’s teeth grinding together, before the other man whipped around, tearing down the hall. “Hurry up!” came the distant echo of his voice.

Tony giggled. “That was exciting. I always love rubbing Fury the wrong way.”

“Sorry, Tony,” Bruce said from where he was sitting behind the desk.

“For what? I’m still here. We have work to do, chop, chop!” Tony clapped loudly at them once, before wincing and dropping his arms.

Bruce exchanged a look with Steve before they got back to work.

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

A few hours later and some very bored non-geniuses later, all six of them were boarding a quinjet headed for Minnesota. Tony had gotten back into the Iron Man suit, even though Steve had protested.

“You’re not fighting, you can barely breathe!”

“I can too, breathe, see?” Tony managed two deep breaths before hiding a wince. “Okay, so I’ve had better breaths. Point is, I need Jarvis. And Jarvis is in the suit. So you see, I need the suit. I won’t be fighting in it. Or out of it. I think you got enough muscle around here to tackle on Big Head. Actually if you _don’t_ , I’ll be so embarrassed I’ll just have to return to-”

“OH MY GOD, STOP. TALKING.” Clint whirled in the seat to glare angrily at the billionaire. Everyone, including a somewhat surprised Tony looked at him. He rolled his shoulders, somewhat embarrassed, before turning back to the console. “Just…you’re giving me a headache. And I _know_ I’m not the only one.”

Tony snorted, before he let out a shallow cough, wincing painfully again.

“He’s right you should probably stop talking. For your own safety.” Steve gave him a cocky smile and Tony scowled back at him.

When they landed, they left Tony behind again, who, amazingly, didn’t complain. They had landed the quinjet on the outskirts of town again, knowing the blood was being kept in a SHIELD facility about a half mile through the woods and into an indiscreet office park.

“Last chance,” Steve said to Clint and Natasha. “You could…get whatever the equivalent of a SHIELD court martial is for this.”

Natasha looked at Bruce. “It’s death,” she said casually.

Clint elbowed her and she let a small smirk cross her face before he spoke. “We owe it to Banner. We’re not leaving now.”

Bruce looked humbled and both Steve and Thor smiled at them. “Good. Then let’s get going.”

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

This time, they waited outside. They had found in the files the building was mostly deserted, only having a bear skeleton crew to maintain the facility. Tony had set up a building alarm to evacuate the staff and point them in the direction of the nearest rendezvous point to await further orders.

The nearest rendezvous point was in the next state over, so they figured they had some time before Fury found out where they were.

Thor crashed through the roof of the building, annihilating several floors before he came to the basement level where there was a steel door. Re-adjusting Mjolnir in his hand, he beat the door mercilessly until it crumpled inwards, falling to the cold floor inside. Thor grimaced as he saw hundreds of bags with things printed on them and red blood inside hanging from racks.

He reached a finger to his ear where Rogers had given him the comm. “I’ve found the blood.”

“Any sign of Sterns?” came the reply.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!” Thor whirled at the shrieking voice behind him. An enraged man with a huge head was standing there, trembling with anger.

“Yes,” Thor said grimly.

“Don’t let him touch you. We’re on our way.”

“Back with your team to try again? I’ll just beat you all again, you know.”

Thor grinned at the man that was practically spitting with rage in front of him. “I wonder though, how much you really know about _me._ I was only on Midguard for a short time. I wonder if you even know my name.”

“ _Thor,_ ” Sterns sneered.

“Verily.”

Multiple things happened at once, then. Two giant figures ran into the room behind Sterns. They vaguely resembled the Hulk, except one was a light blue color, and had double jointed legs like a cat. The other was grey and bulky, and Thor could see parts of bone sticking out of his elbows and knees. Both were huge and vaguely man-shaped, standing at least eight feet high as they leered down at the Asgardian.

There was a roar from above them, and Thor looked up to see a pair of enormous green feet falling through the hole he had made into the building. He moved back, as the Hulk crashed to the floor, Natasha hanging around his neck. As soon as she landed, she hopped off, running into the room with the blood.

“Stop her!” Sterns screeched. The grey one charged at them, snarling, and Thor swung Mjolnir into his jaw, making him stumble backwards. Hulk charged the other one, and together they tumbled through a wall.

**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

 

“We have a problem,” Natasha said over the comms.

“What is it?” Steve’s anxious voice replied.

She started placing bombs around the room, ones that were filled with a chemical compound Banner had made back at the lab that would kill his gamma irradiated blood on contact. “Sterns has been feeding Banner’s blood to some guinea pigs. Thor and Hulk are dealing with them.” As if to affirm her statement, the building shook, and she briefly caught a glimpse of Hulk shooting upwards with the blue one in a headlock. “Hulk’s with one, coming to you.” She placed the last bomb on the wall, arming it. “Bombs are set, Thor, get clear.”

“Where’s Sterns?” Stark asked.

Natasha dashed out of the room, catching a glimpse of Sterns disappearing down the hallway. “I’ll get him,” she said, running past where Thor was still beating a sorry excuse for a Hulk with his hammer.

“Nat, be careful. He’ll just dodge if you try to fight him.” Clint warned.

“He can’t dodge bullets.”  
  


**_AV~AV~AV~AV_ **

The Hulk exploded from the rooftop with the other…man? Creature? Clint couldn’t be sure at this point. From his vantage point from the rooftop across the street he could see that even though the Hulk had his arm wrapped around the other guy’s neck, it wasn’t really slowing him down. It was a little disconcerting. Clint saw the muscles coil in his legs right before he kicked upwards. The Hulk who had been straddling him about to punch his face in, gave a roar of frustration as he was launched over treetops.

Clint loosed an arrow that stuck the monster’s face, before it let out a hiss of blinding smoke. Rogers followed up by launching himself at the beast, aiming to bash its head with his shield. The thing let out a snarl before grapping Captain America’s arms and swinging him around through a second story window of the SHIELD building.

“Shit,” Clint mumbled. He launched a normal arrowhead, but as he had predicted before, it bounced harmlessly off the beast’s skin. It turned , shooting a savage look at Clint who stared angrily back, pulling another arrow out of his quiver. A flash of red and gold caught his eye and he saw Iron Man land on the pavement in front of the building, aiming his repulsors at the thing. The beast roared as it got a back full of repulsor fire, falling to its knees.

Clint grimaced as he saw Stark also sink to a knee, and mentally cursed when he heard the labored breathing over the comm. The man was a goddamn idiot, not that he wasn’t grateful.

“Stark, MOVE!”

But Tony was slow to get up. Too slow. Clint aimed and loosed another arrow, hoping to distract the beast from the prone Iron Man. There was an earth-shattering roar, and Clint inwardly sighed in relief when a huge, green blur came pelting through the woods, the cracking and splintering and crashing of falling trees sounding in his wake. He roared again, as he jumped and landed on top of the other beast, pounding it about two feet into the ground. Clint took his attention off them for a moment, trying to reassess the situation. “Cap, you okay?”

He heard a grunt, followed by a pained reply. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.  What’s everyone’s status?”

Ever the concerned leader.

“Stark’s down-”

“I’m getting up!” Tony said irritably.

“Hulk’s using the blue cat guy as a punching bag,” Clint reported. This time it seemed he was staying down.

“Thor?” Steve asked.

“I am pleased to say I have had a more engaging battle against the Hulk than this foe,” the Asgardian said smugly.

“That means you’re winning, right?” Tony mocked, still sounding a little out of breath.

“If by winning, you mean I have knocked the beast into unconsciousness where he is currently surrounded by his own bodily fluids, then yes,” Thor reported. “It would seem these ones were…experiments, not yet realizing the full power of the Hulk. Fortunately for us.”

“Oh, gross, too much information, buddy,” Tony replied.

“Nat?” Clint said over the comm.

There was no reply.

“I am currently searching the compound for the Black Widow,” Thor reported.

“Has the blood room been destroyed yet?” Steve asked, and Clint saw a glimpse of blue in the window across the building from him, meaning Rogers was back up and moving.

“It has not,” Thor said.

“Stark, keep an eye on Hulk outside. Hawkeye, you’re with us.” Clint didn’t hesitate, throwing the grapple rope he had used to get to the roof back down and belaying down the wall. He sprinted to the SHIELD building, kicking in the door and moving swiftly through the halls.


End file.
